Now was when hope really came into play. He dug deep into the back of the closet, and prayed he found what he was looking for.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rachael grabbed her keys from her purse and rushed outside to start her SUV and get it warmed up before waking Addie.

  She wrenched open the door, inserted the key and turned it in the ignition.

  Dead.

  Heart hammering, she tried again and got nothing but lifeless clicks. Dead. Totally dead.

  “No. No, this can’t be happening.”

  It was a fairly new car. She’d just had it serviced. Her battery had been fine. Everything had been fine.

  And yet it wouldn’t start.

  She tried again and again, knowing in her heart that it was useless, that it wasn’t going to start because … because Ian might have done something to it to make certain she couldn’t get away.

  That’s when fear ramped up to terror.

  Hurrying back to the cabin, she tried to remember how long it had taken them to get from the main highway to the dirt road. How long it had taken to drive from the dirt road to the cabin.

  Too long to walk before dark. If it had just been her, she’d have tried it. But she couldn’t make an attempt to run with Addie. It would be cold and dark and too dangerous.

  She tried her phone again, hoping it had been an anomaly that her calls hadn’t gone through earlier. But she got the same result.

  She had WiFi but no phone. Somehow she needed to take advantage of that. Somehow she had to get out of here.

  She wasn’t a social media user. No Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat accounts. She simply didn’t have time. Even if she had been able to get a message to Cassie who subscribed to everything she could, it wouldn’t have guaranteed that she was online. It could be hours before she received her message.

  As she was debating the idea of setting up an account, something else occurred to her.

  She googled Dillon Nelson, law firm, clicked the link to his home page then went directly to the contact link.

  It was a long shot. Because it was Saturday, Dillon may not be online – at least not for business. He probably didn’t even answer his own contact page, but she left him a message anyway.

  ‘Dillon. It’s Rachael McKenzie. This may sound out there but Addie and I are alone in a cabin on Turtle Creek Lake. I’m concerned we may be in danger. If you pick this up please contact me via this e-mail as I don’t have access to cell service.’

  She told him approximately how long it took to get to the cabin, what roads they took and marked the message urgent.

  Then she waited. Which seemed like a paltry thing to do in light of the concern she felt.

  One more time, she tried to convince herself that she was being ridiculous. Paranoid, even. Ian wouldn’t do anything to hurt her or Addie and even if he did, for whatever reason arrange for them to be out here alone, the chances of anything happening to them were incredibly low.

  If he wanted to do something – she had no idea what at this point – surely he would have stayed, not left them there alone.

  A sound from outside startled her. She spun toward the door. A car engine shut down. A door slammed. Then footsteps on the porch.

  “Hi honey, I’m home.” Grinning, Ian swung open the door and walked into the cabin.

  She shrunk back and rushed over to Addie where she still napped on the sofa.

  So much for leaving them alone.

  “What?” Ian asked, looking puzzled. “Oh, damn. I scared you.”

  “Umm … a little,” Rachael admitted, her heart pounding. “I … I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.”

  “I know. And wow, I’m really sorry. Judging from the look on your face I scared you more than a little.”

  “It’s… it’s okay. I’m more startled than anything because I wasn’t expecting anyone. What … what are you doing back here?”

  “Good question,” he said. “The fact is, I got to worrying about you. I know you were skeptical about staying up here alone and the longer I thought about it, the more I realized that instead of helping your stress level, I might have contributed to it.”

  “That’s … thoughtful. But if I wanted to leave, I could have driven home, right?”

  The minute she said it she regretted. If he was responsible for her car not working, then he knew damn well that she couldn’t drive out.

  Dead silence fell for a moment before he gave her an odd smile. “Did you try to leave, Rachael?”

  Oh, my God. He had disabled her SUV. The look in his eyes, his suddenly wary stance, the weight in his tone, all told her the truth.

  “No,” she said softly, hoping not to antagonize him until she figured out what was going on.

  “Where are your keys?”

  She swallowed and avoided his gaze. “Um … in my purse, I think.”

  “Really. I remember that you pulled them out when we got here. Wonder how they ended up back in your ignition.”

  He dug the keys out of his pocket and held them aloft for her to see.

  She avoided looking at him, not knowing what to say or where to go from here.

  “You could have called, if you had car trouble, right? Did you try to call someone?” he asked, pointedly.

  She shook her head. Lied again. “No. Umm … I haven’t tried to call anyone.”

  He walked to the kitchen counter. Without so much as a ‘may I?’ he picked up her phone, cut his gaze to hers then back to the phone. She assumed he was checking her call log. If so, he’d see that she had tried to call out.

  “Looks like you did try to call someone.” His voice remained soft and agreeable but a little strained. “Why would you lie about that?”

  “Oh, yeah.” She touched a hand to her temple. “I forgot. Sorry. I tried to call a friend. Just to chat. Just to tell her how beautiful it is here and to let her know where I am in case something came up. But I couldn’t get through for … some reason.”

  He gave her a long look. Then spotted her closed laptop on the ottoman.

  The look in his eyes shifted abruptly to anger when he marched over to it. “Where did this come from? I didn’t see you bring it inside.”

  She forced a smile. “Oh. I, um had it packed in my bag.”

  “Why?”

  “Why did I bring a laptop?”

  He took a step toward her and she tried to convince herself she didn’t feel threatened. “Why did you hide it from me?”

  “I didn’t … hide it. I packed it. For God’s sake, Ian. I have books downloaded. I wanted to finish reading one that I’d been working on.”

  “I can check that too, you know.” This time there was no doubt about the threat. His entire demeanor had changed. And it frightened her. “Who else did you try to contact?”

  “Ian,” she said carefully, as a chill eddied up her spine, raising the hair on the back of her neck. “What’s going on? Why are you … I don’t know. Why are you so combative suddenly? Why are you questioning me? And you sound angry.”

  “Aw, Red,” he said, immediately contrite. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad. I’m just … just concerned about you is all. Just worried that you’re not making good decisions. Good choices.”

  Addie started to stir. She yawned and rubbed her eyes and with a big stretch, smiled up at her mother from the sofa. Rachael gathered her warm and sleep-sweet little body in her arms and snuggled her close.

  Good decisions? Good, Lord. If not for Addie, Rachael would confront him. About everything. But she had to figure out how to play this to get them both out of this situation without … oh, God. She just realized she’d been thinking she had to get them out of here without being hurt. Surely, surely Ian wouldn’t hurt them. Not Addie.

  “Why did you really call Cal Reynolds?” he asked abruptly as he walked toward her and smiled at Addie.

  “EenEen.” Addie bounced in her mother’s arms and reached for Ian.

  “It’s okay, baby,” Rachael said, holding on tight. “Momma’s got you.”

  “Give her to me.” Without waiting for Rachael to give him permission, he scooped Addie out of her arms. “Hello, Princess. How’s my girl?”

  Addie gurgled and wrapped her arms around Ian’s neck.

  Once she’d felt joy and appreciation seeing her baby girl in Ian’s arms; now she felt a horrible fear and a keen sense of being outmaneuvered.

  “You know what?” Ian said to Addie as he bounced her on one hip. “Your momma is too smart for me.” He glanced over Addie’s head at Rachael. “Right, Red?”

  She saw it in his eyes then. He knew. He knew that she had been piecing things together. He knew and he wasn’t happy.

  “Your momma just couldn’t leave things alone, could she?”

  Addie smiled sweetly up at him as Ian continued with that same soothing tone.

  “She snooped in my wallet. She double checked with Cal Reynolds – at least she tried to.” He glared at Rachael. “What else am I going to find you were busy doing when I boot up your laptop?”

  “Ian … you’re starting to frighten me,” Rachael said, hoping she could, for Addie’s sake, slow down this train that he was driving and seemed destined to crash with her on it.

  “What am I going to find on your laptop?” he demanded, making it sound like an accusation. His tone was so harsh that it scared Addie.

  Her bottom lip came out. Huge tears welled in her eyes. She was about to break loose with a wail when Ian sensed what he’d done.

  “Oh, sweet, girl,” he said, cajoling her back into good humor. “I’m sorry. I was too loud, wasn’t I? It’s okay. Hey. Where’s that silly bunny?”

  Addie blinked several times, tears clinging to her lush eye lashes. She studied his face to see if she could trust this new, sweeter tone and gave him a tentative smile. “BunBun,” she whispered, tucking her chin into her chest and looking down.

  He grinned at her. “Yeah. BunBun. Where is that guy?”

  Deciding she could be happy again, Addie wriggled to get out of his arms and did her Monster-lurch over to her little pink travel bag that was still sitting on the floor by the door.

  “Don’t hurt her,” Rachael whispered, fighting back tears of fear for her daughter.

  Still smiling after Addie, Ian cut his gaze her way.

  She saw the madness then. Hated herself for missing it. For not seeing what had most likely been there all along.

  Mac dragged the small fireproof safe out of the closet and onto their bed. They’d bought the safe to hold their life insurance and wills and car title – all their important papers – to protect them from the possibility of fire, not to keep valuables. But the most valuable item in his world right now lay inside the safe. At least it was there the last time he knew.

  Hands trembling with both the need to hurry and the worry about his girls, he started working the dial. He’d committed the combination to memory long ago. One more number. One more spin … and he heard the click of a tumbler falling into place.

  On a steadying breath, he gave the dial one final turn and the last tumbler fell into place. Holding his breath, he opened the door. Inside, among their papers, was a Ruger SR22 pistol. He’d bought it for Rachael before his first deployment. He’d wanted her to be able to protect herself and Addie should the need arise while he was gone. He’d even taken her to a concealed carry class then to a shooting range to be sure she knew how to handle it. A lot of good it would do her now, he thought grimly. But it might be of use to him.

  More welcome than the Ruger, though, was the burner phone and its charger. Thank God she still kept it in the safe. Quickly plugging in the phone, he waited impatiently until it had collected just enough juice to turn it on. When it was powered up, he hit the GPS app and waited for it to calibrate.

  It took only a few seconds for the map to come up and the blinking red light to mark the location where he’d find his daughter.

  “Fine,” Rachael had finally agreed when he’d insisted that Addie needed some sort of tracking mechanism.

  “It’s a scary world, Rach. Kids are stolen way too often. I don’t want to take any chances with her.”

  “If it means that much to you, we’ll do it. But no microchip. I will not have anything embedded under that tender skin.”

  They’d agreed on the earring even though Rachael had cried when her tiny little lobe had been pierced.

  Thanking God for the foresight to embed a tracker in Addie’s earring, Mac familiarized himself with the map on the phone and pinpointed where they were.

  A remote area of Turtle Creek Lake. His fear for Rachael and Addie notched up several degrees. There was no way Rachael would take Addie to such an off the grid area. Not on her own. Not without some persuasion. Or coercion.

  Ian. He had to have taken them there.

  Fighting back panic, letting his military training take over, he quickly dug into the closet. He found a pair of jeans and a heavy sweater and put them on. Then he laced up his hiking boots and stuck a stocking cap on his head. He grabbed a pair of gloves and a jacket from the hall closet along with a flashlight with new batteries.

  With the Ruger tucked in his waist band and the box of ammo in his jacket pocket, he headed for the back door. When the front doorbell rang, he stopped cold in his tracks.

  Quietly backtracking into the living room, keeping clear of the windows so he wouldn’t be seen, he dropped to his knees and peaked out of the window by the door.

  The doorbell rang again.

  Dillon. He’d gotten his message. And he’d come. Now the big question. Did he let him in, tell him what was going on and ask for his help? Or did he let him go, on the very real chance that as an officer of the court, Dillon would feel compelled to turn him in?

  He went with his gut.

  He threw the bolt on the lock and jerked open the door. Catching Dillon completely off guard, he grabbed him by an arm and dragged him inside.

  “Just listen,” he said, pressing one hand over Dillon’s mouth and holding the Ruger to his throat with the other.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Rachael sat stiffly on the edge of the sofa, watching Addie play with Bunny and the building blocks she’d packed in her bag. Ian stood by the window, his shoulders square, his posture rigid.

  He turned back to her. “I had this all planned out. It was perfect.”

  “You had what planned out?”

  His gaze bore into hers before he let out a big sigh then shook his head. “You really don’t know, do you? For someone so smart, you don’t know what’s happening here.”

  She lifted her hands. “I … really, don’t, Ian. You’re confusing me. And you’re frightening me, if you want to know the truth.”

  “I never intended to frighten you, Red.” He dragged both hands over his jaw. “It was going so well. You … you trusted me. You were beginning to see how much I could offer you and Addie.”

  “You’ve always been a trusted friend, Ian,” she said, hoping to remind him that there had always been friendship between them.

  “You know,” he said, startling her by moving so fast it caught her off guard. She flinched when he sat down beside her on the sofa, took both of her hands in his. “Mac didn’t want to stop and help you that day.”

  She tried not to pull away, not wanting Addie to sense her fear. “What … what day?”

  “The day on the playground. When those girls were bullying you. Calling you names. Making you cry.”

  “Right,” she said carefully. “I remember. You and Mac saved me. At least it felt that way.”

  “Mac wanted to walk away. Just leave you there. Leave you there crying while they picked on you. Bet you didn’t know that, did you? I was the one who made him stop and help. Me, Rachael, not your precious Mac.”

  “You’re right. I …I didn’t know that.”

  “Well, you do now. You know it was me from the beginning who cared about you. I was just a kid,” he said, his face not at all childlike as he stared at her. “Just a kid,” he repeated in a hauntingly melancholy tone. “But I loved you even then.”

  She blinked. Swallowed. Not knowing how to respond. “I …I loved you too, Ian. You and Mac. My friends. Forever,” she added gently, hoping to remind him where the boundaries were, remind him especially about the friends part of the equation.

  “You never saw it. You never saw that I loved you.”

  His grip on her fingers tightened painfully. And yet his tone and expression were eerily calm.

  “Of course I did. All through grade school. High school. Ian … please, you’re hurting me.”

  She tried to pull away from his grip.

  Finally realizing what he was doing, he let her go, compressed his lips, and looked away. “No. You only saw Mac. No matter what I did to try to make you see that I was the one you should choose, you picked him. I was the captain of the football team, for God’s sake. I got better grades. I helped you with your math and gave you rides home when Mac was busy.”

  “You did. You were always there for me,” she agreed calmly while her heart beat so hard she could feel it in the tips of her fingers. “You were a great friend.”

  “But it didn’t matter what I did for you, did it? Didn’t matter how much I excelled over Mac, trying to impress you. You never saw me for who I was. You never saw me as the better man. I made a fool of myself over you, and you didn’t even know it.”

  “Ian. I’m … I’m sorry if I misunderstood your feelings.”

  He looked down at their joined hands. “I tried to forget you, you know. That’s why I left. Went to West Point – but even that didn’t impress you.”

  “That’s not true,” she said, trying to placate and soothe him. “You always impressed me. Mac and I always talked about what an amazing person you are. What an amazing friend.”

  “I didn’t want to be your friend!” he roared suddenly, making her flinch. Addie froze, a block in each hand. She puckered up and started crying.

  Rachael pulled out of his grip and went to her, picked her up and held her. “It’s okay, baby. Shh. Shh.”